transits the Suez Canal, it must transit the Gulf of Aden. In
total, 20,000 vessels sail through the Gulf of Aden each year,
according to Reuters. That includes approximately 12 percent of the world’s petroleum traffic as well as large quantities of bulk and containerized dry cargo, the International
Maritime Organization told the U.N. Security Council in a
November 2008 appeal for help combating Somali pirates.
Last year, pirates attacked well over 100 vessels in the
region, capturing 42 of them, according to press reports.
Ransoms paid out to obtain the release of crews, passengers,
vessels, and cargo totaled $30 million. In response, marine
insurance brokers have added $20,000 per voyage through
the Gulf of Aden, according to underwriter Hiscox. To no
one’s surprise, ocean carriers are passing those costs right
through to shippers. As of the middle of 2009, Maersk Line
had raised charges for customers whose cargo is handled by
East African ports by $50 or $100 per container. For cargo on
vessels that merely travel through the Gulf of Aden to another destination, Maersk added “war risk charges” of $25 for
each 20-foot container and $50 for each 40-foot container.
Some shipping companies have decided to avoid the Gulf
of Aden altogether, rerouting their vessels around the Cape
of Good Hope on Africa’s southern tip rather than sail
through the Suez Canal. Even before the Alabama incident,
Maersk had rerouted certain vulnerable ships, mostly petroleum tankers, away from the area.
That traffic diversion is reflected in the Suez Canal’s activity reports. Traffic moving through the Suez Canal in
January 2009 ( 1,313 transits) was down 22 percent from
January 2008 levels ( 1,690 transits). Tonnage represented by
the January 2009 transits was the lowest in 30 months.
Although the maritime journal Lloyd’s List notes that worldwide economic conditions contributed to the decline, the
rerouting of ships is widely considered to be a significant factor in the drop-off.
But rerouting comes with costs of its own. Sailing around
the southern tip of Africa adds 5,000 miles and three weeks
or more to a voyage—and serious dollars to the trip’s cost.
Longer transit times have implications for fuel consumption
and inventory as well.
Military might
The pirate attacks haven’t gone unnoticed by world governments. In response to the rising piracy threat in Somalia’s
waters, a consortium of naval powers, including India,
China, Great Britain, Japan, France, Sweden, and the United
States, have stepped up patrols in the Gulf of Aden and the
East African Coast.
But surveillance is difficult and patrols are widely spaced,
even with increased numbers of combatant vessels augmented by airborne and (presumably) space-based assets.
According to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, the
area to be patrolled and protected measures over 1 million
square miles—an area four times the size of Texas.
